Psychotherapy has rightly recognized that early childhood attachment shapes the traces and profile of physical and mental health. As early as the 1950s, John Bowlby developed the theory that a strong emotional bond between child and caregiver is a basic human need. A baby needs someone. This is often the mother and father, but it could also be other people who shape and protect the baby – from warmth, from cold, but also that they give food and drink.
Babies cry when they need something, they are not yet able to regulate themselves. In the first phase of life, emotional regulation must come from outside. Only gradually do they learn strategies for dealing with emotions. This is where most disorders develop when things are not going right.
The Word Disorder Needs To Be Explained
The word “disorder” can refer to a person’s behavior and their inner balance. Let us explain what this is all about.
We have two levels that are mutually dependent and influence each other. These are needs and behavior. If needs are not met, especially the early childhood needs described above, in order to experience positive emotional regulation, then physical and psychological reactions can develop. This can lead to restlessness, depression, anxiety or behavioral disorders.
I have been dealing with people professionally all my life and have come to the conclusion that emotional regulation can be learned. You don’t have to develop disorders if you learn to satisfy unmet needs.
Reframing The Needs
I consulted the renowned memory researcher Professor Markowitsch, which resulted in the book “Reframing Needs”, Springer Verlag. We learned that you can satisfy needs throughout your life, which has a positive effect on your health, on relationships and on your attitude to life. I have implemented this knowledge and experience into workbooks “Reframing Childhood” and “Reframing Adolescence” and apps. The apps will be relaunched at the end of 2025.
We have carried out a long-term study and the results are very encouraging. Neuroscience confirms our results.
Modification Of The Psyche
If a baby experiences this feeling of security, this basic trust, during the first years of life, then it can go from there and conquer the world. Such adults know that if something gets dangerous out there, If a baby experiences this feeling of security, this basic trust, during the first years of life, then it can go from there and conquer the world they still have a safe inner retreat. This is very deep inside, where bonds have been formed and life has been shaped.
Well-being also needs the experience of a secure bond. Insecurity, on the other hand, is a building site in the field, unfinished foundations that are constantly collapsing. But the psyche is modifiable, even into old age. Attachment patterns develop in childhood, depending on the interaction children experience with their attachment figure, but they are not fixed. That is the good news, that is, new attachment figures who come along – in kindergarten, in school, even in relationships – can change the attachment pattern that you bring with you from your childhood in one direction or another.
The Theory Of Disorders
In 1950, Eric and John Ericson developed a stage model of psychosocial development. According to their theory, each person has to overcome certain challenges at different stages of life in order to develop healthy attachment skills. In early childhood, for example, we learn to trust others, have good and bad experiences and learn to deal with crises between trust and mistrust.
At a later age, the struggle between intimate relationships and independence determines attachment behavior and in old age, attachments are shaped by how we develop them more consciously.
Other authors and researchers extend the classic attachment theories and focus more on individual differences and experiences in a person’s life. Among other things, we have the dynamic maturation model, which states that attachment patterns develop not only through attachment experiences in childhood, but throughout life. It is never too late to form new attachments, even at an advanced age. The decisive factor is the bonding hormone oxytocin.
The Basis of NIKU AI
We don’t necessarily need real attachment figures to release oxytocin, it can be a pet, it can be a cuddly blanket, it can be singing and humming. Research has shown that even being touched by objects has a health-promoting effect. In experiments: social robots, cuddly blankets and pets or a self-touch performed worse than a human hug, but still showed a measurable positive effect. Frequency is more important than the amount of touch.
Digitalization is a great opportunity to use AI to develop products to prevent disorders and improve internal regulation, give them a positive connotation and remedy injuries.
NIKU has proven with its tools that users can positively change their inner household. NIKU AI is a step in the right direction.
There are too many incidents around the world where murders and riots are explained by mental illness. These incidents are tragic, without question, but this is the price we pay for psychiatry not allowing innovation and yet having such a large lobby.
Especially in healthcare, we need to secure our competitive advantage and for that we need simple tools to improve and stabilize mental health globally. Technological development is changing so much and so quickly, we are exposed to many threats in every way and not all threats wear uniforms or weapons. Healthcare for mental development urgently needs to keep up. NIKU AI is what we need so that everyone can develop and protect themselves mentally.
